FFW: Just Add Water/Twelfth Night

What is the same about TwN and just add water?

There are a significant number of similarities between the play Twelfth Night and the film just add water. Just one of the many is the similarity between Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, and the citizens of Trona. Orsino wants to be with Olivia, but he's too lazy to try to get her himself. In comparison, the citizens left in Trona are just as lazy about leaving the town. They just wait for rain after it hasn't rained for years. Also, I think Olivia finding out that Viola's not a man is very comparable to Ray finding out that Jonah Hill is not his son. In conclusion, both the film and the play lack a sense of normality, which is the main similarity between the two. In Twelfth Night, you have a woman pretending to be a man that ends up falling in love with a man who's in love with another woman who's in love with the woman that's pretending to be a man. In just add water, you have a town where it hasn't rained in years, where people are just about crazy, where people don't attempt to better their lives, where men hire prostitutes to take an 18-year old's virginity. Bottom line, they're just not normal. They're actually really weird. And there's much more between the two that are similar than one might first think.

Bigfoot

Food miles are “the distance a product travels from the farm to your home” (Specter, 276). Michael Specter’s Bigfoot talks about the global warming problem on our planet and how to fix it. The main suggestion in the article is to create a carbon-neutral community so pollution is greatly reduced. To be exact, this would be equivalent to taking 100,000 cars with all of those toxic gases and fumes off of the street. The food miles are a big deal because, like the example in the article, you can just get food from a local farm, but if it’s not quality, eating the potatoes from the farm could be just like eating French fries from the local McDonalds, which is why food miles are extremely important. It’s better to get your food from farther for maybe a little bit more money than not because the quality is much better, and the carbon footprint is nearly non-existant.
I do not personally feel responsible for global warming. I think that everyone in the world is a little responsible for it because, let’s face it, we did this to ourselves. With all the Hummer H3s riding around and all the extra pollution, it was bound to happen. I might be a little responsible, but I’m certainly not going to put a lot of the blame on myself when there are over 2 billion humans on the planet that had just as big, probably bigger, a part in the cause of global warming as I did.

Just Add Water Questions

1. What's in Ray's tin can?
2. How did Charlene go so long cheating on Ray before he found out?
3. Why have the people in Trona stayed there so long if there's been a drought for years?
4. How is Danny DeVito's character connected to Ray?
5. When will Ray and Nora get together?
6. Why wouldn't Jonah Hill's character not know his own Grandma and not care that she's dying?

Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind

Kenneth Bruffee’s Collaborative Learning and the “Conversation of Mankind” attempts to say that knowledge is gained by working with peers. I’m sure this is a true statement, but when asking the question “does knowing require contact with another intellect?”, I’m not so sure. Sure, contact with a peer can help you gain knowledge, but I don’t think that human contact is required to gain knowledge. There are some types of knowledge that can only be gained via human interaction, but, for the most part, I feel that it is not needed to do so in gaining knowledge for school and other things. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I work best when in a group, but I don’t think that is the only way to work. In fact, I’m sitting here in my room working on this blog alone. There’s no one around me, and I’d say I’m doing a pretty fine job.
I know people that can just sit in their room and read for 3-4 hours and have gained an insane amount of knowledge in that amount of time just by reading something and studying it. It’s not a far-fetched idea to say this, because so many people do it. You see people studying alone in the library every day, gaining knowledge and applying it to real-life situations. In the article, Bruffee talks about peer tutoring, where, instead of getting tutored by an elder, the student gets tutored by another student. This is a great way to work, and it is a great example of Collaborative Learning at work. By peer tutoring, both the tutor and the person being tutored can gain knowledge; not just the person being tutored. Not only can a tutor help the person being tutored, but the tutor can also learn from what he/she is evaluating and use that to make their own works of writing better.
While personally, I prefer collaborative learning to studying on my own, I don’t think that being alone restricts you from gaining knowledge having to do with education. Street smarts? Maybe. No, scratch that. Definitely. But for education purposes where you only need to know certain subjects? I don’t think it matters in the long run whether or not you’re working alone or with others to expand on the knowledge you have already.

FFW: Just Add Water

What emblem/image/symbol best exemplifies the film "Just Add Water"?

I think that a flower best exemplifies the film. In the movie, Trona had been in a drought for years, and everyone left had developed some sort of mental problem over the years of the drought. Huge chunks of peoples' personalities were just ripped out of their bodies. Much of them began to die, but Ray changed that at the end, and when it began raining at the end of the film, it seemed as if the citizens of Trona were "coming back to life," in a figurative sense. This resembles a flower as a flower needs water, or it begins to droop down and eventually die. The flower represents the citizens of Trona, and when both the flower and the city get watered, it's like a reviving rain. It completely changes the outlook in such a short amount of time, and revives what makes these people: their personalities.

Writing Center

My experience at the writing center was extremely helpful. The writing center instructor gave me a lot of tips on my Twelfth Night Essay. I came into it having done 2 ½ paragraphs and getting myself stuck, but we worked for a little while and I got myself out of the rut that I was in. Joe C, my instructor, tried helping me with the direction I was going with the paper, and we changed a good amount of the first body paragraph, and we completely changed the second one. I feel like it helped my essay greatly, and I think it was a great experience. I definitely feel that the writing center is a huge help, and it'll definitely be the first place I go to revise my next essay, and many essays after.

Reality Tests

In the article “The Reality Tests,” author Joshua Roebke raises an interesting question: “Do we create what we observe through the act of our observations?” The simple answer to this question is yes. Two different people can see one common thing and make two completely different observations. It’s all dependent on one’s perception of what they’re looking at. In the article, Roebke uses many physics examples, but that’s definitely not the only subject in which this statement holds true. For example, for a vegetarian person, Buffalo wings can seem disgusting and horrible while, to a regular meat eater, they look absolutely delectable. Another example is in sports. If a team wins the championship, there are going to be just as many unhappy fans as there are happy ones. Like I said, it all depends on the person’s perception of the subject matter.
Roebke’s thesis is a fantastic one and has a great amount of room to expand on. It’s mind-boggling that so many people can look at one thing and have so many different ideas and perceptions about it. The thesis shows how Roebke chooses to write. Instead of stating the answer to his question and making it obvious, he makes the reader think. He makes us look at the writing piece and realize that we really do create our own observations.

Faustian Economics (Part 2)

"The real names of global warming are waste and greed." Throughout the article "Faustian Economics", author Wendell Berry defends this statement. He calls us "limitless animals," which is a label that I can't say I disagree with. Us human beings want EVERYTHING handed to us. Like Berry said, many people believe that there is a "supposed possibility of limitless growth, limitless wants, limitless wealth, limitless natural resources, limitless energy, and limitless debt" (Berry, 2). People think that life will just go on and be okay, which is ignorant. They think we'll be fine for the foreseeable future, but they have no substantial evidence to back it up. The "Unbridled Energy" summit in Louisville, Kentucky talked about converting coal to liquid fuels, but by doing that, the consumption of coal by the country would have to be doubled, and that would last us 100 years. I don't know about anyone else, but 100 years? Sure, we might be dead by then, but what about our kids? What about our grandkids? It's not right to be so present-minded.
This kind of thinking reminds me of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team. This past December, after trading for arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay, they traded their top pitcher, Cliff Lee, to Seattle in order to replenish their minor league system so they wouldn't be bad again in two years. Fans were irate because they thought the team would have both pitchers on their staff and that they'd be unstoppable, but it wasn't meant to be. Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. explained this in a way that relates to this topic completely. He said that, since talks with Cliff Lee about an extension weren't going anywhere, he had to find a way to get a pitcher of the same caliber for a longer period of time, since this year was the last on Cliff Lee's current contract. So he traded for Halladay and signed him to a 3-year extension. Afterwards, he traded Cliff Lee because he gave up so many prospects for Halladay, that he wanted to make sure there were some more prospects with high potential in his minor league system. Although fans were mad, it was completely understandable, as they would definitely rather have 3+ years of Roy Halladay and a high-end minor league system than 1 year of Halladay & Lee with nothing left afterwards and a huge decline within the next 2-3 years. That's what this is talking about. For many people, the future is now. That's not the right mentality to have, especially when talking about the future of America's economy.
Like Berry says, limitation is needed to make sure our economy is in check, and to make sure that it'll be stable for longer than just the next 100 years. "Our national faith so far has been: 'There's always more'" (Berry, 3). Even though many people believe this, this is not true. There is ALWAYS a limit to EVERYTHING. It's not to say that we'll reach it soon, but, if we keep going the way we are, our economy will reach it's limit unless people in power start thinking far along into the future, rather than just the next 100 years. People might see limitations as extreme and they might see them as unneeded, but these are the same people who think it's ok to look no further than 100 years into the future. These are the same people who, 100 years from now, people will be talking about as the people who destroyed the country's economy. These are the same people that always think about the here and now, and waste their own money on unnecessary items because, like Berry said, "there's always more". Things need to change. Berry's ideas on economics are far-fetched, but they are very plausible and they would definitely help out the country in the long run.

Derrida: Fear of Writing

I interpret Derrida's fear of writing as completely justified. I definitely do understand what he is talking about in his explanations of his controversial writings. Personally, although I have never actually experienced what Derrida is talking about in regards to writing, I do know what he is saying. When one writes, they put their thoughts on paper. At the moment of writing, nothing bad seems to come out of it. But once the writing is published, there's some second guessing as to whether or not the writing should have actually been posted. If there is controversy involved, there will always be that type of fear, but, like Derrida said, when you're writing, that fear is not there. It's asleep. It's only awake when you're asleep. When you're asleep, the subconscious is what controls you. When you're awake, the subconscious is there, but it's overpowered. Just like Derrida said, "when I'm awake and working, this vigilance inside me is actually asleep. It's not the stronger of the two. And so I do what must be done."

What is a writer? Am I a writer?

A writer is a person who thoughtfully and masterfully creates sentences and paragraphs that epitomize the creativity flowing through that person's veins. It is someone who could write about anything, anywhere, anytime and not have a difficult time doing it. It's someone who is natural at the art of writing. Personally, I could see myself as a writer, but not someone who does it extremely often. I believe that I write well, but my goal in life is to become a Sports Broadcaster, not a Sportswriter. I can definitely write about sports and have fun doing it, but I'd much rather be a broadcaster than a writer, which is exactly why I'm not a writer. So many people write and they love what they do. To those people, more power to them. Although I do like to write about topics that interest me, I don't consider myself a true writer because it's not my shtick and it's not something that I consistently enjoy doing.

Faustian Economics

There is a strong amount of excess waste and greed all around us in this world today. There are so many things and so many people that epitomize what Wendell Berry is saying. For example, there are many people that have excess greed. There are celebrities that are all about money, such as Football Player Terrell Owens, people in casinos get extremely greedy after winning a lot of money and they want to continue wining so they keep playing. This greed ends up costing them more than they originally won and it's not good for them to be so careless and impulsive about their money. There is excess waste all around us as well. Many SUVs have an insane amount of pollutants, and they are not at all environmentally safe. The gasoline is not at all good for the environment, which is why people are starting to drive Hybrid Cars more often, such as the Toyota Prius.

The Problem of Describing Trees vs. Hubris at Zunzal

The way that both of these poems make meaning is very obvious. In the poem by Robert Hass, he says that it is very difficult to describe trees. As he goes on describing them, he gets to a point where he doesn't know exactly what to say because he can't completely describe that one aspect of the tree without the reader actual seeing what he was seeing. Although he does his best to make these descriptions, he still falls short. In Rodney Jones' poem, he tells a story of a him being extremely premature on making a decision, spilling his rum into the water. He wants it back, but he can't get it back. Language is a slippery vehicle in the sense that things you say can be taken in many, many different ways. It can be interpreted how you meant for it to be interpreted but it can also be interpreted in a completely different way.

Language is a slippery vehicle...

Language is a slippery vehicle that can rub someone the wrong way if misinterpreted. There's such a huge language barrier between cultures that if something is said even in a certain way, it will be misunderstood and there will be conflict between the parties. Language is great. There are many, many different languages in the world. Honestly, though, it's unnecessary. Why there couldn't just be one worldwide language is astonishing to me. Who thought of actually splitting up all of the countries and giving them all different languages? It's not necessary whatsoever, and if there was one worldwide language, no matter what it was, people would not misinterpret things nearly as much. It's a way to express yourself and it's not needed to have so many different types.

Twelfth Night Play Reaction *Extra Credit*

After watching the play at Adam's Playhouse, I had a new-found respect for William Shakespeare. It was obvious that either it was extremely difficult to act out the play perfectly, or the actors and/or director were just not that good. Some of the aspects of the play were laughable. The southern accent by Olivia had no consistency, and the fool was playing music that was definitely not right for the time it was supposed to be for. I will admit that Sir Toby Belch was entertaining, as was the Fool, but it was just not a great show overall. Another high point of the play was Orsino's acting, which I thought was the only good acting job out of anyone in the play. The way he acted around Viola, who was dressed as Cesario at the time, was extremely captivating. You could tell that Orsino, even though he thought Viola was a man, was semi-attracted to her. Olivia's voice made me cringe, Sir Andrew was alright, Malvolio was a bit over-the-top, and there's nothing really to comment about Maria. Overall, I don't feel like this was a good show, and I feel like it could have been much better. In conclusion, after reading the book, I was extremely underwhelmed by the performance.

Act III Scene i Quote

Viola- Then think you right. I am not what I am.
Olivia- I would you were as I would have you be. (III.i.148-9)

In this quote, Viola is asked what she thinks of Olivia. When she gives her a critical answer to the question, Olivia begins to lash out at Viola, telling her exactly what Viola told her. This interaction ends with Olivia professing her love for Cesario, even though Viola won’t return those feelings. This quote is the start of a confession by Olivia. It’s a huge part of the play because it’s the first time she professes her love for Viola, but Viola doesn’t care. Olivia pleads with Cesario to try to fall in love with her, but Viola won’t have any of it at the time because she is still in love with Orsino and she’s a woman, not a man. I think that Olivia and Viola will somehow make it work because two of the three people in the love triangle have to end up together, and I think it’s going to be Olivia and Viola.

Act II Scene v Quote

Malvolio- “…and yet to crush it a little, it would bow to me…” (II.v.143-145)

Malvolio is referring to the mysterious abbreviation “M.O.A.I.” He initially realizes that all the letters are in his name, and thinks that, although it looks difficult, it’ll end up being an easy code to crack. After he reads the letter, he becomes hell-bent on getting Olivia to be with him, but he doesn’t realize that the letter was written by Maria, who is attempting to prank Malvolio into thinking Olivia wants him. I feel like Malvolio, after reading, went from just liking Olivia to being in love with her, because of the letter, but Maria’s prank is obviously working in her favor up to this point.

Act II Scene ii Quote

Viola- “I am the man.” (II.ii.25)

This is where Viola knows for certain that Olivia wants her as a mate and not Orsino. This is when things go full circle and Malvolio sees the love triangle that Viola, Olivia and Orsino are in. There is no mutual love involved in the triangle, which makes it even more mysterious as to what’s going to end up happening. This quote shows exactly how insane the play is because there’s so much going on and, although realistic, it’s just a lot to take in with all of the instability involved in the play by everyone involved.

Ink-Shedding

Orsino: "Mark it, Cesario. It is old and plain; The spinsters and knitters in the sun and the free maids that weave their thread with bones do use to chant it." (II.iv.49-53)

I take this to mean that the song that he sung the night before has become old and plain. But even though it might seem boring to Orsino, he had become so comfortable with the monotony of the tune that it has become common place for it to be played. The song takes Orsino back to a simpler time, which is why he enjoys listening to it even though it's been overplayed.

Six Questions on Act 1 of Twelfth Night

1. Why is Viola disguised as a man?

2. FOOL- "Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel will
amend. For give the dry fool drink, then is the fool not dry.
Bid the dishonest man mend himself. If he mend, he is no
longer dishonest. If he cannot, let the botcher mend him.
Anything that’s mended is but patched. Virtue that
transgresses is but patched with sin, and sin that amends
is but patched with virtue. If that this simple syllogism will
serve, so. If it will not, what remedy? As there is no
true cuckold but calamity, so beauty’s a flower. The lady
bade take away the fool. Therefore, I say again, take
her away." (I.v.40-51) What does this quote mean?

3. Why does Olivia want nothing to do with Orsino?

4. What caused Sir Toby Belch & Sir Andrew to become alcoholics?

5. Why is Cesario the one who brings Viola to like men again and not Orsino, the man who actually loves her?

6. Why does Olivia want to wait seven years to see people once more?

iPods vs. CDs: The Fight for supremacy (FINAL DRAFT)

Parth Desai

2/11/2010

Dr. Ethna D. Lay

WSC002- Section 11

iPods vs. CDs: The fight for supremacy

When walking across a busy street, chances are that at least one person, maybe more, have earphones in their ears, listening to their MP3 Players. While listening, these people are immersing themselves in an alternate reality, paying attention to what’s going on in front of them, but living in their own little world via their earphones. Who knows what they’re listening to? They might be a Rock fan, maybe Hip-Hop; maybe they might be a fan of Miley Cyrus and be rocking out to “Party in the USA”. One thing’s for sure, though. Many people in the country own these MP3 Players, with the iPod being the most popular. While so many people use iPods to listen to music, one has to wonder if these people are listening to music the way it's meant to be listened. This might not be Apple’s intent, but it’s how many people nowadays are using the device.

In the current times, it is obvious that an iPod is used to play a variety of music in a way that can surprise you. In the newer generation iPod nano, if you shake the iPod, the song changes, emitting a "shuffle" type effect. Even earlier, during the first generation iPods, there was the iPod shuffle, which automatically shuffled one’s entire music library. The owner did not even have an option to select their song. All of the music was basically put into a hat and whichever song you picked out was the one that ended up playing. People who bought these prove the exact point that I’m trying to make. It’s not even an option to listen to a full album and, for the most part, people don't listen to CDs straight through anymore. They put a wide variety of music on their iPod and shuffle the songs. This is a great way to listen at times, but there are times when it’s great to just listen to CDs straight through. The artists make CDs for a reason. They choose the track list very carefully for a reason. These people that are listening to music like this are not experiencing the greatness what can be experienced when listening to CDs straight through. It's great to change it up once in a while and shuffle the music, but I think it's disrespecting the artists and their work by not listening to their music the way they want it to be listened.

Personally, I love listening to albums straight through. Sure, I have playlists of my favorite music as of now to listen to while I'm on the go, but listening to albums straight through is a completely different, amazing way to listen to music. What I love especially is concept albums, such as Jay-Z's American Gangster. Listening to the story beyond the album is a surreal feeling and it's on a whole new level of listening to music. I'm as much of a fan of shuffling music as anybody. I need to listen to music that reflects my mood, but I can just as easily enjoy a great album. iPods are great, but that is the one thing it seriously lacks. The main point of an iPod is to be able to have all of your music available to you on the go. While you can listen to albums straight through on the iPod, it's not the main purpose. If it’s supposed to be, many people don’t know it. I personally know countless amounts of people who have their 80-gigabyte iPods completely filled without even one full album on it. That’s just inexcusable in my eyes. I feel that people should appreciate music as well as appreciate everything that artists and bands do and try to do.

Apple Inc., the maker of the iPod, assumes many things about the typical music listener. The shake-n-shuffle option introduced in the 4th-generation iPod nano reflects the fickle personality of our generation, the main target audience of Apple. I can’t argue about that assumption, as that fickleness is basically what defines our whole generation. This can be related to sports. If a baseball team goes on a five game losing streak, many of the team’s fans will become extremely angry and agitated at the team. When they follow the five game losing streak with a seven game winning streak, many of those angry and agitated fans will turn around and be extremely happy and cheerful about the team. Many people are extremely fickle when it comes to sports. Music is the same thing. Current United States President Barack Obama talked about change in his Presidential campaign. It’s been proven that the majority of people want change, not only in governmental policies, but in life as a whole. Living uniformly is extremely boring, so people naturally want change in their lives. When people listen to music, listening to the same things over and over can also get boring, which is why people listen to different types of music very often. But people don’t realize that listening to the same artist is not listening to the same thing. It’s, in fact, listening to very different things. It’s ignorant to think that one artist creates the same exact songs over and over. People group artists together in one category and classify them as “the same”, but it’s obviously not true. Artists can have many different types of songs and evolve their own music throughout a full album. This is why listening to CDs is imperative in one’s music-listening experience, and it’s why many people should change the way they listen to music as a whole.

In today’s culture, the two most popular things people do when on the go is talk on the phone and listen to music. The iPhone combines these two things. It’s, quite frankly, the most convenient piece of technology a person could have. The newly unveiled iPad will have many exhilarating features that will excite anyone that loves both computers and music. It's truly amazing how well Apple markets its products and how they know exactly what we want, but I feel the need to go back to my original argument. The iPod is ruining the old-fashioned way of listening to music. We take music for granted. Twenty years ago, people listened to records straight through because, while there was no other way, it made them appreciate the good music that much more. These people listened to music daily, and they didn’t mind one bit that they had to listen to the whole album. Once they get to their favorite song, the experience is so much better because after that entire wait, it’s definitely worth it. There are people who have never heard a full album in their life. They don't truly appreciate music for what it is: a way to get out of our reality and get in touch with the artist's. With the iPod, iTouch, iPhone and the new iPad, listening to albums straight through is a rarity and, although I don't want it to be like it was in the 60s and 70s where you were forced to listen to albums straight through, I'd like albums to be more appreciated than they are now. It’s a crime how many people don’t listen to complete albums. These people are disrespecting the artists they listen to without even knowing it. Things need to change and people need to realize how remarkable it feels when you’re listening to an album. You’re going into the artist’s mind and seeing what they’re thinking, and it’s a great feeling.

Like I said earlier, I like shuffling as much as the next guy, but I also know how to appreciate an album. Listening to the transitions between songs, the way the album flows and just the evolution of the artist’s music while going through the album is something that I long for when listening to music. It's my hope that more people learn to do the same. It’s extremely easy to shuffle songs every few minutes, but it’s not the way to listen. People take for granted the fact that shuffling music can be as easy as the shake of a technological device for the iPod nano, or the press of a button for all other MP3 players. It's not completely Apple's fault. They try their hardest to appeal to their target audience, and kudos to them because it’s worked so far. But, sadly, even if they didn’t mean to be, they're the main cause of this new shuffling era that I'm dying to get out of.

Revising

1. When you revise, what do you actually do? What kinds of changes do you make? (Do you revise you writing, or is revision an afterthought?

Personally, I feel like I cannot truly revise my writing right after I write the paper, and seeing as how I finish most of my paper hours before it's due, I hardly revise them. I feel like I can't see anything wrong after I just write it unless it's a grammar mistake. In the writing, it's hard for me to see my own mistakes until I let it sink in and not look at the piece for a few days. So I usually don't revise and I trust my first draft, and it hasn't really done me wrong thus far so I never really worry about revising my paper.

2. What figuration can you apply to your revision practices? What metaphor best represents your approach to revision?

The metaphor that best represents my approach to revision is a football coach thinking that his gameplan for the big game was perfect, but after they end up losing the game, they see what they did wrong. It's hard for me to see anything wrong because, since I just wrote the paper, I can't bring myself to read it again and correct it because I feel like my hours of hard work alone deserve an A, so I see my paper as being all good. I see the small mistakes quickly, as a coach would when he sees his cornerback blow coverage on the opponent's top wide receiver, but it'll take me a little while to see what's really wrong with the paper.

Taking Wilderness in Hand by Michelle Nijhuis

Torreya Taxifolia is an ancient tree species that is also known as the Florida Torreya. It's also known as "stinking cedar". It's a very rare tree, and some time during the middle of last century, it began to die. Connie Barlow, a writer and a naturalist, saw the tree once in 1999, but when she went back, she found out exactly how difficult it was to find. In fact, there are only less than one thousand surviving trees left. It is said that the climate change is a huge factor in the death of many of the trees. Personally, I don't find this article interesting in the least bit. I really don't care about the tree, as rare as it is. But one thing that Nijhuis does is that she assumes all readers know about Global Warming, and it's assumed that Global Warming is what is causing these trees to die out.

Virtual Iraq by Sue Halpern

According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is precipitated by a terrifying event or situation. Travis Boyd, a marine, suffered from this psychological disease after his second deployment to Iraq. This disease cannot be cured, but to help lessen the effects, he agreed to become a subject in the Department of Defense's "Virtual Iraq" clinical trial. This trial was extremely experimental and it wasn't guaranteed that it would make you better. Joann DiFede, the director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies at Weill Cornell, explained that "If you suddenly become afraid of the staircase because you had to walk down twenty-five flights of stairs to get out of the World Trade Center, the stairs went from being neutral to being negative." But the fact the virtual reality is being used, and has been used before to treat P.T.S.D, it is very surprising to me that the article is basically saying that video games are good for you, which is the complete opposite of what the general population has been saying for the longest time. Personally, I wouldn't be complaining if that was my form of treatment for any disease I had, but Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that "we’re a video-game generation. It’s what we grew up on. So maybe we’ll respond to it." Although a full recovery from P.T.S.D. is impossible, I think that Virtual Iraq is definitely a great way to go about treating the patients.

Hi-Tech Trash

"In a global economy, out of sight will not stay out of mind for long." That is what Chris Carroll of the National Geographic says in his article Hi-Tech Trash. According to Carroll, it is estimated that, in the US, "more than 70% of discarded computers and monitors end up in landfills". There are many laws that prohibit e-waste because it can leak toxic chemicals, but this still happens. Even 80% of TVs end up in landfills as well. To me, this is an atrocity and it's horrible. Things absolutely need to change. It's so sad that even the people who DO try to recycle might still have their e-waste end up in landfills and in places such as Africa. The US has a federal hands-off policy, which causes most of the e-waste to be moved overseas. It's inexcusable for our home country to be so apathetic in regards to these problems. It's not right that all that e-waste goes overseas to less-privileged places. This whole process needs to be revamped, and soon.

iPods vs. CDs: The fight for supremacy

When walking across a busy street, chances are that at least one person, maybe more, have earphones in their ears, listening to their iPod. Many people in the country own MP3 Players, with the iPod being the most popular. While so many people use iPods to listen to music, one has to wonder if these people are listening to music the way it's meant to be listened.
In the current times, it is obvious that an iPod is used to play a variety of music in a way that can surprise you. In the newer generation iPod, if you shake the iPod, the song changes, emitting a "shuffle" type effect. For the most part, people don't listen to CDs straight through anymore. They put a wide variety or music on their iPod and shuffle the songs. The artists make CDs for a reason. They choose the tracklist very carefully for a reason. It's great to change it up once in a while and shuffle the music, but I think it's disrespecting the artists and their work by not listening to their music the way they want it to be listened.
Personally, I love listening to albums straight through. Sure, I have playlists of my favorite music as of now to listen to while I'm on the go, but listening to albums straight through is a completely different, amazing way tto listen to music. What I love especially is concept albums, such as Jay-Z's American Gangster. Listening to the story beyond the album is a surreal feeling and it's on a whole new level of listening to music. I'm as much of a fan of shuffling music as anybody. I need to listen to music that reflects my mood, but I can just as easily enjoy a great album. iPods are great, but that is the one thing it seriously lacks. While you can listen to albums straight through on the iPod, that's not the main purpose.
Apple Inc., the makers ofthe iPod, assume many things about the typical music listener. The shake-n-shuffle option introduced in the 4th-generation iPod nano reflects the fickle personality of our generation, the main target audience of Apple. The iPhone combines the two things people do most when on the go: talk on the phone and listen to music. The newly unveiled iPad will have many exhilirating features that will excite anyone that loves both computers and music.
It's truly amazing how well Apple markets its products and how they know exactly what we want, but I feel the need to go back to my original argument. The iPod is ruining the old-fashioned way of listening to music. We take music for granted. Twenty years ago, people listened to records straight through because, while there was no other way, it made them appreciate the good music that much more. There are people who have never heard a full album in their life. They don't truly appreciate music for what it is: a way to get out of our reality and get in touch with the artist's. With the iPod, iTouch, iPhone and the new iPad, listening to albums straight through is a rarity and, although I don't want it to be like it was in the 60s and 70s where you were forced to listen to albums straight through, I'd like albums to be more appreciated than they are now.
Like I said earlier, I like shuffling as much as the next guy, but I also know how to appreciate an album. It's my hope that more people learn to do the same rather than shuffle songs every few minutes. It's not completely Apple's fault, but they're the main cause of this new shuffling era that I'm dying to get out of.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? (Toulmin Model)

Is Google REALLY making us stupid? That's what Nicholas Carr, a writer for the Atlantic Monthly, says. As sad as it is, I must agree with him, but need to expand on it. It's not just Google. It's the internet as a whole. Although there are many reasons for this, the main reason is time. It's extremely tedious to research using books and the library. In contrast, using the internet can take minutes as opposed to hours. When one uses the internet as a form of research, people skim many readings rather than really taking in the information given in a few readings. It makes you know the basics of more knowledge rather than the depth of that knowledge. It is assumed by Carr that all people have internet.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Google has now been around for years. It's been a great help in many, many areas. People use it for virtually everything. It has become the mecca of all search engines. But, at the same time, many people wonder whether or not it is REALLY helping us. I mean, it could be said that it has so much information, that it is impossible for it not to help, but the means by which the information is gathered might be a bit too easy. In the early days, people spent hours upon hours looking for information that could now be found within minutes. The advancements in technology are amazing, but one must wonder if they are truly helping society as a whole.
Personally, I believe that Google, while being a reputable search engine and a great way to get information, is definitely changing our ways of thinking. It's making us more dependent on the internet. While that could be a good thing, it's obvious that most people that go on the internet for information expect it to be quick and easy, which is not the way to go about learning and researching. Back in the day, it was more often than not that a person truly got something out of the information they looked at, but now it's just people looking between the lines for keywords and just writing a paper after reading articles for about 5 minutes. Instead of reading, people just skim through, which is not all Google's fault, as there are many other places on the internet people can go to do that, but Google is the main source of it. People go on Google to find information, and they find it by searching keywords. Our brains have now started to comprise of a more "dumb-it-down" type mentality, and Google is the main reason. It's not completely our fault, but technology's made things a bit too easy. It's unfair to those of previous generations that we can spend an hour on an assignment that would have taken them a day. It's advancement, but, in reality, it wasn't needed, because now people don't really get anything out of the assignments unless they do them right and don't take a shortcut. So, in conclusion, I do believe that Google has, in fact, made us stupid.